The bacon is sizzling as chefs get ready for the first BaconFest at the Monterey County Fairgrounds.

Thousands of pounds of bacon will be fried, baked, braised, dipped, wrapped, smoked, sprinkled and chewed Saturday and Sunday as BaconFestgoers enjoy the pork treats dreamed up by chefs on the Monterey Peninsula.

Miller said BaconFest was born out of the Americana festival he's been putting on for the past few years. He said this year the same great music will be there, plus all of the food vendors will be all about bacon.

"It's salty, it's sweet, it coats our pallet the right way, our body, we crave the fattiness of it, the saltiness of it, the sweet," said chef Todd Fisher.

Fisher knows a little something about bacon: the executive chef of Tarpey's Restaurant was the host of the television show “United States of Bacon.” The chef and his team will be at BaconFest and they're bringing four dishes to the table, including one for the judges.

"So there is a competition for the best bacon bite and what we're going to enter in that is what we're calling our double smoked bakers bacon honey nuggets," he said.

The dish includes a cube of Baker's Bacon bacon, braised and tossed in a spicy honey sauce.

"It is the perfect salty, sweet, spicy pork bite," Fisher said.

At BaconFest attendees can expect a lot of talk about Baker's Bacon. The hand-rubbed, dry cured, apple wood smoked bacon is the bacon of choice at the festival.

The purveyor of Baker's Bacon, and chef at Monterey’s Montrio Bistro, Tony Baker, will be at the festival doing demonstrations with Baker's Bacon, and according to organizers it raises the bar on your average grocery store bacon.